Unstable Experiments
by Gage39
Summary: Optimus, Ratchet, and Prowl are undercover at a research facility.  While there they meet the new experiments that the scientsist have been working on; Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and the Jet Twins.  Will Optimus help them or will he condemn them to death?
1. Prologue: Wheeljack

Unstable Experiments

Prologue: Wheeljack

A/N: Umm, in 'Mixed-Up 2' chapter...3? I asked if anyone wanted to do an illustration of the graveyard scene. Is anyone doing that? I don't really care; I was just wondering cuz a couple of you guys mentioned doing it. You don't have too; I was just curious.

The lab was so quiet that even the slightest little sound was amplified a million times louder. Wheeljack winced as he walked across the floor as silently as possible; each step sounding like an entire army was marching through the room. Making his way to one of the many tables he switched on his headlights in an effort to illuminate the items on the table. He glanced around nervously as he picked up one of his inventions which looked an awful lot like a plain, metal box. He turned it over a pressed a certain spot on the bottom causing it to slide back revealing a small hiding place. Reaching inside he pulled out six video chips. He stared at them for a minute, sadness welling up inside of him. It was…difficult to believe that these chips would be responsible for…his thoughts were interrupted when something tapped him on the shoulder strut. "Hey," a voice said from behind him.

Startled, Wheeljack spun around, weapons at the ready then relaxed when he saw who it was. "What are you doing here?" he hissed. "You're not supposed to be in here," he scolded.

The other bot laughed and said, "Since when has that ever stopped me, Wheeljack?"

"That's true," the scientist admitted. "So what are you doing here?"

"You haven't been yourself lately," his visitor shrugged "so I came to see what was wrong."

"That was very nice of you," Wheeljack said as he hid the video chips behind his back.

The blue optics in front of Wheeljack narrowed. "What are you hiding?" he asked suspiciously.

"N-nothing," Wheeljack stammered feeling like a guilty sparkling that had just been caught stealing an energon goodie. That was not a feeling he had ever planned on associating with this particular bot but, then again, nothing had ever gone as planned; especially not with this bot.

"Let me see," a servo reached out, digits wiggling impatiently. His optics widened when he saw what Wheeljack had been hiding. "Are those what I think they are?" he gasped.

Wheeljack nodded reluctantly and said, "Yes. That's all of them."

"You're slagged," the other bot informed Wheeljack.

"I know," Wheeljack moaned. "I know."

"What are you going to do with them?" the voice was serious yet worry shone in his blue optics.

Wheeljack opened his mouth to answer when he heard the sound of footsteps and voices drawing near. "Quick," Wheeljack whispered. "In there," he pointed to a ventilation shaft.

"No, I'm not leaving you," the visitor argued.

Wheeljack smiled softly and pressed a servo against the gray metal cheek, caressing it. "I'm so proud of you," he whispered. He shoved the video chips into the other bot's servos. "Take this," he whispered. "Use it to free yourself and the others."

"What about you?"

"Don't worry about me; just go and I'll be fine," Wheeljack assured him. "Now go!"

Reluctantly his visitor climbed into the ventilation shaft, looking at Wheeljack longingly as he did so.

The doors opened mere seconds later and two bots entered. One of them was Sentinel Magnus, head of the Elite Guard with a blue-and-orange paintjob and a condescending sneer on his faceplate. The other bot was Sparkplug, head of the research facility and brown with white arms and interfacing panel.

"Hello, sirs," Wheeljack smiled nervously, his fins flashing light yellow. "What brings you down here?"

Sparkplug gave him a look and said, "You know why we're here, Wheeljack. So why don't you give us the video chips and we'll leave you alone."

"I don't know what you're talking about," the engineer said, glancing around the room.

Sparkplug sighed and shook his head from side to side. "Wheeljack, you are my best scientist and engineer and have been ever since Perceptor's unfortunate accident."

"You mean since you had him killed," Wheeljack corrected.

Sparkplug continued speaking as if he hadn't been interrupted. "I really don't want to lose you but I will make you regret it if you don't hand over those video chips."

"I don't have them," Wheeljack insisted.

"Then that's too bad, for you at least," Sparkplug gestured to Sentinel who smirked and pulled out a pair of stasis cuffs.

"You know scientists aren't well liked or well treated in prison," Sentinel said as he placed the cuffs on Wheeljack. "Especially those that are uncooperative with the Elite Guard. However, if you tell me where the video chips are I might be tempted to let you go."

"I'll never tell you where they are. You bots are evil. Cybertron has the right to know what you are doing here!"

"No they don't. Cybertron doesn't want to know anything," Sparkplug said. Then he turned around and walked out of the room with Sentinel and Wheeljack behind him, not noticing the blue optics that followed them until they were out of sight.

A/N/N: 5 reviews please. Will settle for 3.

A/N/N/N: You will have to wait until later in the story to find out who was Wheeljack's visitor. The same applies to what's on the video chips.


	2. Assignment

Unstable Experiments

Chapter 1: Assignment

Optimus Prime was happy; very happy. He had just caught several smugglers, shutting down a smuggling ring in the process. Well okay actually _they _had shut down the smugglers. They being Prowl, who was a ninja, Ratchet a medic from the era of the Great War and himself of course. There were a few loose ends to tie up, namely giving his report to Sentinel Magnus and then it would be time for a month long vacation. Something they had all been looking forward to for quite a while. He smiled broadly as he walked into the main office. He waved at the secretary and walked into Sentinel's private office. "Hello, Sentinel," he greeted.

"It's good to see you again, Optimus," the blue-and-orange behind the desk said.

"Good to see you too, sir," Optimus said as he extended a datapad. "Here's my report."

Sentinel took the datapad but didn't look at it. Instead he placed it on the desk, a troubled look on his faceplate. "I'm sure everything is in order, it always is with you."

"Is everything all right, sir?"

"No," Sentinel sighed. "Everything is not all right. You know the research facility on the outskirts of town?"

Optimus nodded. Everyone knew about the research facility. It was the place where all of Cybertron's technological advances had been made. It was also the second most famous place in all of Cybertron, second only to the Temple where the All Spark resided.

"Well," Sentinel continued, "there have been some…rumors floating around."

"Rumors?" Optimus straightened. "What kind of rumors?"

"Some very unpleasant ones," Sentinel told him. "It seems that some of their newest experiments are a little," he hesitated then said, "questionable. As you know the Elite Guard not only provides security for them but also the majority of their business."

"So you want us to check it out and see if the rumors are true," Optimus said, picking up on what Sentinel didn't say.

"Exactly," Sentinel leaned forward and said urgently, "we can't afford a scandal, Optimus; not now, not after…" his voice trailed off.

'Not after what had happened to Ultra Magnus' remained unspoken. Ultra Magnus had been in charge of the Elite Guard before Sentinel. One of the heroes of the Great War he had been murdered one night. Despite the fact that the Elite Guard had gone over all of Cybertron no trace of his killer had ever been found. No bot had been pleased by that, least of all Sentinel who had been placed in charge.

"Will you do this, Optimus?" Sentinel pleaded. "Do it for Cybertron, for Ultra Magnus."

Although he had a nasty feeling that he was going to regret it for the rest of his life, Optimus sighed and said, "I'll do it."

* * *

><p>"You're gonna do what?" Ratchet stared at the blue-and-red bot in horror.<p>

"_We_ are going undercover at the research facility on the outskirts of town and investigate some of the rumors that are floating around," Optimus explained as he went through several datapads that were lying scattered in the middle of his berth.

"You mean the ones about them training assassins?" a voice floated down from the ceiling, seconds later its owner followed. Prowl was a ninja, he had been trained by Yoketron, the best ninja to ever walk on Cybertron; at least until his death that is. After finding his mentor murdered Prowl had joined the Elite Guard. He now spent his spare time tracking down any leads as to who might've committed the crime.

"Assassins?" Optimus repeated.

Ratchet snorted. "I heard they were building bots there."

"What's wrong with that?" Optimus asked. "They've been doing that for centuries."

"Yeah but rumor has it that they're actually makin' 'em with sparks."

Optimus's optics went wide and he dropped the datapads with a loud clang. "They have sparks?" he gasped. "How is that even possible? Sparks can't be built."

Ratchet shrugged. "As I said, just a rumor," the red-and-white medic grunted.

"Which is exactly why we're going undercover," Optimus said.

"So what exactly are we going to do?" Prowl asked. "I mean it's not like we're scientists or anything."

"I have no idea," Optimus admitted. "Sentinel said he'd take care of it. All I know is what he wants us to do while we're there."

"When do we leave?" Prowl asked.

"Tomorrow morning at six a.m."

"Might wanna get some recharge before then," Ratchet stretched out on his berth and off-lined his optics.

"That's probably a good idea," Optimus agreed as he and Prowl followed suit, quickly falling into the world of recharge…after Optimus cleaned off his berth that is.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure that we can trust them?" Sparkplug asked bluntly.<p>

"Yes," Sentinel answered. "Optimus is loyal to me and the Elite Guard and his friends are loyal to him."

"What makes you sure that they won't turn us in?" Sparkplug persisted.

"I just told you," an annoyed Sentinel began only to get interrupted.

"I know you said that they were loyal to you and the Elite Guard but suppose they get it in their processors that the Elite Guard shouldn't be doing this kind of stuff. What'll happen then?"

"Oh don't worry," Sentinel said. "Optimus will do whatever I tell him too."

"That's easy for you to say. If they find those video chips I'll be going to prison."

"We'll both be going to prison," Sentinel corrected. "But don't worry; all I have to do is to tell Optimus that the video chips were stolen from here and he'll be more than happy to hand them over to me."

"He better," Sparkplug threatened before terminating the conversation.

Sentinel scowled at the blank screen then turned around in his chair and began thinking. There had to be a way to find those video chips before Optimus and the others did…

A/N: 5 reviews, will settle for 3.

A/N/N: Sorry that's it so short but I was kind of in a rush when I wrote it.

A/N/N/N: Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and the Jet Twins will appear in chapter 3.


	3. Cybertron Research Facility

Unstable Experiments

Chapter 2: The Cybertron Research Facility

Despite the fact that morning came much too quickly the three Elite Guard members found themselves on the outskirts of town at six a.m. Waiting for them was a brown-and-white bot that Optimus recognized as Sparkplug, the bot that had revolutionized the research facility. "I'm Sparkplug," he said, extending a servo.

Optimus shook his servo and introduced him. "I'm Optimus and these are my friends, Prowl and Ratchet." The other two bots nodded when Optimus said their names.

"It's very nice to meet you. Sentinel Prime has spoken very highly of you."

"Thank you, sir," Optimus said politely. He hesitated then asked, "What exactly are we going to be doing? Sentinel wasn't very clear on that subject."

Sparkplug chuckled. "No I'm sure he wasn't. We have many openings available but I believe I know where you'll best suited. Follow me." He turned and began walking towards the building, Optimus and the others behind him.

On the outside the research facility was very impressive due to the three black smokestacks on top of the roof. The toughest metal known to Transformers composed the gray walls; the only color being the sign that read, in white letters, 'Cybertron Research Facility.' Security guards stood at every entrance, their weapons at the ready. Optimus eyed them uneasily as he and his three companions entered the building.

"Welcome," Sparkplug said proudly as he opened his arms wide.

If he thought the outside had been impressive then Optimus wasn't sure what to say about the inside. The marble floor was so shiny that Optimus could see his reflection. Holopics of bots, famous scientists and the like, hung on the walls. There were two desks in the room, opposite each other with a secretary at each one. Several flights of stairs and six elevators led up the other floors.

"This way," Sparkplug gestured for them to follow him as he went to one of the elevators. He stepped inside and waited until they were in as well before he pressed a button and the doors slid shut.

During the elevator ride Optimus watched with a growing sense of trepidation as they passed several floors, noticing that each one had titanium steel doors and walls. Not to mention the grim-faced security guards everywhere. _This isn't a research facility;_ he thought to himself, _it's a fortress!_

"Here we are," Sparkplug announced as he led them down a hallway, throwing open one of the many doors. "This will be your private quarters. I'm terribly sorry but I'm afraid that you'll have to share this room as all of our other ones are full," he apologized.

"That's quite all right," Optimus assured him.

"Are you sure?"  
>"Positive," Optimus said, "we've shared a room before and we don't mind doing it again."<p>

A suspicious choking sound came from behind Optimus even as Sparkplug winked and said, "I'm sure."

Optimus's blue optics widened when he realized what was going on and hastily said, "I didn't mean it like that."

"Sure you didn't," Sparkplug nudged his arm meaningfully and began to go back the way they had come. "Oh by the way," he called, "lunch will be served in about four hours and then I'll tell you what you jobs are going to be. So I would advise you to get some rest; you're going to need it!"

The second he had disappeared around the corner Ratchet burst out laughing while Prowl looked slightly amused.

"It wasn't that funny!" Optimus snapped.

"Oh yes it was," Ratchet gasped in between laughs.

"I must agree with him," Prowl said.

Optimus shot them both dirty looks as he crossed his arms and just stood there, looking very annoyed.

"Sorry," Ratchet apologized, not looking very contrite. "But you gotta admit; it was pretty funny."

"Maybe just a little funny," Optimus admitted, uncrossing his arms. He opened the door to their room and stepped inside. The room was slightly larger than their quarters at the Elite Guard base. There were three berths, one on each wall and the middle of the room was a table with three chairs. The walls were painted white with a light gray trim.

"Haven't they ever heard of other colors?" Prowl complained. "Like blue, red, or even purple and orange?"

Optimus tried to suppress a smile but was unable to. "Prowl, we're not here to comment on their decorating skills or lack thereof," he chided. "We're here to investigate the rumors, remember?"

"All that I'm saying is; considering the amount of credits that the Elite Guard gives them every year that they could some decent colored paint."

"More than likely they used the credits to hire everybody," Ratchet said. "It cost a lot of credits to keep this place upgraded to buy all the equipment."

"I guess," Prowl sighed, trying to avoid looking at the walls much to the others amusement.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in the security room, the door opened causing everyone to raise their weapons only to lower them when they realized who had entered. Sparkplug ignored the other bots and went straight to the security director, Red Alert. Red Alert was, as his name suggested, red; but not just any red, it was very, very bright with black arms and legs. He was also the best security director that Cybertron had ever had except for one little problem; he was paranoid. Now normally being paranoid wasn't that bad of a thing but Red Alert had a paranoia glitch that made him believe that everyone was out to get him. So he was always prepared for that which explained the amount of cameras and security guards.<p>

"What are they doing?" Sparkplug demanded.

"Which they?" Red Alert asked innocently. "There are many 'they's' that you want me to keep an optic on."

"The new arrivals," Sparkplug hissed.

"Oh, ok," Red Alert hid a smile as he brought up the cameras in their room. The three Elite Guard members were lying on their berths, appearing to be deep in recharge.

"Let me know if they do anything," Sparkplug ordered as he left the room.

"Yes, sir!" Red Alert gave a mock salute then returned to his cameras.

A/N: 5 reviews, will settle for 3.

A/N/N: Bumblebee WILL be in the next chapter.


	4. Meeting The Experiments

Unstable Experiments

Chapter 3: Meeting The Experiments

Lunch was a quiet affair not that any of them really minded. Optimus was too nervous and worried to have any energon as he couldn't stop thinking about what the experiments could be. Ratchet didn't seem to have the same problem as he not only drank his energon but all of Optimus's as well. Prowl, being very logical minded, settled somewhere in between; drinking only his energon and very slowly at that. Once they had finished Sparkplug motioned for them to follow him again. He led them up another two floors to a door marked 'Do Not Enter'.

"We're going in there?" Optimus asked.

Sparkplug nodded. "I am going to warn you though. What's on the other side of this door must not leave this building. Understood?" his voice, which been warm until now, suddenly turned cold.

"Understood," Optimus said after Prowl and Ratchet had both nodded.

"Good," Sparkplug smiled, his voice friendly once more. "In that case let's go meet them."

"Them?" Optimus mouthed and Ratchet shrugged in response.

As Sparkplug slowly opened the door Optimus could feel himself tensing. Why he wasn't entirely sure but somehow he knew that whatever was on the other side of door was going to change his life forever. When the door was finally opened all the way he leaned forward eagerly only for his optics to go wide in shock when he saw what was on the other side.

It was a room but the room itself wasn't important. Its contents, however, were. In it was four bots; all of whom appeared to be younglings. Three of them were sitting in chairs around the table while the fourth one seemed to be sitting on what like shoulder guards.

"Ah there you are," Sparkplug said cheerfully. "I want you to meet some people. This is Optimus, Prowl, and Ratchet. They're going to be your new teachers."

Dumbstruck Optimus could only nod when Sparkplug introduced him and the others. He simply couldn't believe it; this was what the scientists had been working on? He had been here for less than a day and already he had a very long, detailed report for Sentinel Magnus.

"Optimus," Sparkplug said, his voice breaking into Optimus's thoughts. "These are AB-2000, AB-2001, AB-2002, and AB-2003. Or, respectively, Jetfire, Jetstorm, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee."

"Nice to meet you," Prowl said.

"It be nice meeting you," Jetstorm cried.

"Yes it be nice," Jetfire agreed. The two minibots were definitely twins, having the exact same frame, the difference between them being that Jetstorm was blue while Jetfire was orange.

"Hi," the big green mech who was sitting on his shoulder guards said, Optimus decided that he must be Bulkhead due to his large size.

The last bot, the yellow minibot with black stripes, merely looked at them, saying nothing. His blue optics, however, sized them up warily as if calculating how dangerous they were.

"That's strange," Sparkplug frowned and walked over to him. "You're not usually this quiet, Bumblebee. Is something wrong?" his voice was friendly but underneath it was something else. Something that made Optimus feel chilled all over.

"Nothing's wrong," Bumblebee replied cheerfully after several minutes of hesitation. "Nothing at all; I was just wondering what they're going to be doing."

Wondering the same thing himself Optimus paid close attention to Sparkplug's answer.

"Well Optimus is going to be teaching you battle strategies…"

"I'm going to be teaching what?"

"Prowl will teach you the finer arts of ninjitsu…"

"Excuse me?" Prowl raised an optic ridge.

"And Ratchet will show several first aid techniques as well as how to perform basic surgery on yourself," Sparkplug continued calmly, ignoring all of the interruptions.

"I beg your pardon," Ratchet growled.

"How exciting," Bumblebee said sarcastically then brightened. "Does that mean we can learn how to do that humming thing that makes stuff float?" he asked eagerly.

Prowl opened his mouth to say no but Sparkplug beat him to the punch. "Of course," he smiled sweetly. "Prowl would be more than happy to show you how to do that, won't you Prowl?"

"Sure," Prowl lied.

"Well I've got to get going. Why don't you bots get acquainted with each other?" he suggested. Not waiting for an answer he turned around and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him then locking it.

The three Autobots stood in the middle of the room just staring at the four bots who were sitting. The two groups sized each other up, calculating their strengths and weakness. Or, more accurately, Bumblebee and Optimus were studying each other.

After several minutes of turning their heads to watch the two bots engaged in a silent battle of wills Jetfire had had enough and said, "Who be wanting to play a game?"

"Me!" Jetstorm yelled happily.

"Can we, Bumblebee?" Bulkhead asked eagerly then added, "as long as it's not hide-and-seek again. I always lose."

Bumblebee reluctantly tore his optics from Optimus and said, "That's 'cuz you're so big, Bulky. How about I-Spy?" he said; blue optics gleaming suspiciously.

"Yippee!" the twins cried as Bulkhead scooted a little closer to the table.

"Aren't you coming?" Bumblebee looked straight at Optimus. "If you're going to be our new teachers then you should probably need to get to know us." The 'and so we can get to know you' remained unspoken.

"Sure," Optimus said, ignoring the panicked looks Prowl and Ratchet were throwing him. "What're the rules?"

Bumblebee grinned wickedly. "I'll be more than happy to show you. Take a seat," he waved a servo at the table. "Find some extra chairs and let's get the game started."

Optimus swallowed nervously and thought, _you're going to owe me big time for this, Sentinel._

"If we get off-lined or go mad it's all gonna be your fault, Optimus," Ratchet hissed.

"If we survive this I'm going to gut you myself and sell you for spare parts," Prowl whispered.

Optimus looked at the grinning Bumblebee then at his furious friends and decided that his two month vacation was looking better and better all the time.

A/N: 5 reviews, will accept 3.


	5. First Day

Unstable Experiments

Chapter 4: First Day

When Optimus came online the next morning his first impulse was to simply roll over and fall back into recharge. However, being the good Elite Guard officer that he was he checked his internal chronometer and groaned. He reluctantly sat up and yawned. Looking around the room he saw that Ratchet was still in recharge while Prowl was nowhere to be seen. Not the least bit worried about their erstwhile ninja Optimus stood up and decided to go downstairs and see if he could find any energon. He was just about to leave the room when a sleepy voice asked, "Where are you going?"

Optimus turned around and said, "Downstairs to get some energon."

"Bring me some too," Ratchet ordered.

"Sure thing," Optimus said then walked out of the room making sure that he closed the door behind him. The elevator took him five floors down to where they had had lunch the day before. It didn't take him long to fine three cubes of energon; he was about to head back to their quarters when he was stopped by Sparkplug.

"Ah, Optimus, I trust that you're all settling in all right?"

"Yes, sir, we are," Optimus said then hesitated. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course; what do you want to know?" Sparkplug asked with a smile.

"Are those younglings that we met yesterday what you've been working on?"

Immediately the smile disappeared from Sparkplug's faceplate and he said stiffly, "That's none of your business. Your job is to teach them; not ask questions." He began to walk away but, turning his head, called, "If I hear that you've been snooping around and asking questions you will regret if for the rest of your life."

Optimus watched him disappear around the corner then shivered. He didn't doubt that Sparkplug would make him pay and something told him that he didn't really want to know how.

* * *

><p>After the three of them had had their morning energon a red minibot, who introduced himself as Cliffjumper, led them three floors up and said, "This is where you will be teaching," he waved his servo as if indicating the space.<p>

"This entire floor?" Optimus asked, looking around at the empty space in front of him. There were no walls dividing the space, holopics, windows or anything. It was just…empty.

"Yes," Cliffjumper confirmed as he nodded. "The exp…I mean the younglings are not allowed to leave this floor unless one of you is with them and even then only to flush their tanks. Energon will be delivered at lunchtime and you will eat supper with Sparkplug. Any questions? Good," with that he was gone.

Ratchet, who had been about to ask a question growled, "I don't trust that mech."

"Those rules he gave us were rather strange not to mention strict," Prowl agreed having shown up mere seconds before Cliffjumper had.

Optimus sighed and said, "Look I think those rules are a bit too much but we just have to play along for now until it's time to contact Sentinel."

"When do we contact him anyway?" Prowl inquired.

"Tonight," Optimus replied.

Before they had a chance to say anything else the door opened and the four younglings walked in. As soon as they were in the room the door closed behind them allowing Optimus to catch a glimpse of red armor.

"Good morning!" the twins and Bulkhead said brightly as they sat cross-legged on the ground. Bumblebee didn't say anything, choosing instead to scowl at Optimus with fervent hatred; causing Optimus to later complain that it had blistered his paintjob.

"Good morning," Optimus said back, smiling at them.

There was a sense of déjà vu in the air as they stared at each other once again. Bumblebee finally broke the silence with, "Well are you going to teach us or what?"

"To be perfectly honest I've never taught anybody before," Optimus admitted. "So go easy on me if I do something wrong, okay?" After they had all nodded he pulled out a datapad and asked, "Prowl, can I borrow your holographic emitter?"

"Sure," Prowl removed the emitter from its usual place which was below his chassis and handed it to Optimus.

"Thank you," Optimus took it and, after playing with it for a few minutes, pressed a button then placed it on the ground. A holographic image of Iacon appeared, showing all of the buildings and wilderness areas. "All right," Optimus said. "Here," he magnified a section of Iacon, the area where the All Spark Temple was located, "is where you are and there," he pointed to another area, "is where the Decepticons are. Neither one of you can go anywhere except for straight ahead which will cause you to run into each other. You've each lose over half of your army and the other half is weak from energon loss. Your only hope is to get past the Decepticons and into the Temple where you can get some energon. Any ideas on how to do that?" he stopped speaking and looked at them expectantly.

The twins and Bulkhead immediately began to argue over what they thought would be the best way. Bumblebee, however, didn't say a word but merely frowned as he stared thoughtfully at the image. He rose to his pedes and walked around it, carefully examining every little detail. "Here," he said suddenly, startling them. He pointed to a spot on the map. "This alleyway isn't blocked is it?"

"It's a dead end," Optimus told him. "The wall at the end of it is over forty-five feet tall."

Bumblebee shrugged. "That's why you carry a grappling hook with you."

"But you don't have one," Optimus pointed out, resisting the urge to say that he did carry one.

"All you need is a piece of metal and a chain," Bumblebee said calmly. "Either one of which can almost always be found in an alley."

Optimus thought it over for a minute then reluctantly nodded. "That wasn't the answer I was looking for but it will do. What do you do after you go over the wall in the alleyway?"

"Well," Bumblebee said slowly after thinking it over for a couple of seconds, "I split the army up before we went over the wall and sent one half to keep the Decepticons occupied while the rest of us made it to the Temple."

"That is a good strategy," Optimus admitted, "but what about the soldiers that you left behind?"

"They were a necessary sacrifice," Bumblebee said coolly as he gazed evenly at Optimus.

A/N: 3 reviews.

A/N/N: Tomorrow's chapter will either be very early or very late as I'm going out of town and I can't decide to post it before or after I get back.

A/N/N/N: As I said above I am going out of town so if you have any questions about this chapter than I will try to answer them in chapter 6.


	6. Reporting To Sentinel

Unstable Experiments

Chapter 5: Reporting To Sentinel

The rest of the day passed much like it had started. It seemed that Bumblebee was extremely good at not only battle strategies but also very good at improvisation. If Optimus told him that his weapons were broken then he built a new one. If there was an obstruction in his way then he found a way to either go around it or move it completely from his path. After several hours of this Optimus had finally called it quits and concentrated on teaching the other three younglings. While they knew a little about battle strategy they had nowhere near the amount of knowledge that Bumblebee did. They much preferred to spend their time arguing or, in the twins' case, having mock fights while Bulkhead stared dreamily into space, thinking about nothing in particular. Having already decided that each of them would teach for a day giving the others a chance to rest Optimus was extremely grateful when the day was finally over. He dragged himself to their quarters and his berth where he plopped down wearily and declared, "I'm not moving from this spot ever again!"

"That's all fine and dandy," Ratchet said drily, "but who's going to report to Sentinel? It's certainly not going to be me."

"Or me," Prowl added.

"Sentinel," Optimus gasped as he shot to his pedes. He reached into one of his subspace compartments and pulled out what looked like a metal box but was really a communications device. He opened it and waited until the familiar blue-and-orange faceplate of Sentinel Magnus appeared then said, "Hello, Sentinel."

"Ah, Optimus, I trust that you have something to report?"

"Yes, sir, I do," Optimus replied. "We have been able to substantiate some of the rumors and we think that we've discovered what they've been working on."

"That's nice," Sentinel said absent-mindedly setting off alarm bells in Optimus's processor once again.

"What's wrong, sir?" he asked with a sigh having decided that it wasn't worth it to delay the inevitable. The sooner he faced it the sooner it would be over with. At least that's what he told himself.

Sentinel hesitated then said, "I didn't send you there just to check out some rumors. A few weeks ago someone broke into our base and stole some video chips with some rather…sensitive information on them. At first we didn't have any leads but then we caught a scientist who told us that the research facility was behind the robbery. He also claimed that their newest experiments had carried out the order."

Optimus, who had been listening very closely, remembered the way that Bumblebee had looked coolly at him and said, 'They were a necessary sacrifice.' He wouldn't put it past the yellow-and-black minibot to break into the Elite Guard headquarters and steal something. "What would you like us to do?" he asked.

"Nothing for now," was the reply. "We can't afford to let them know that we're on their trail. If they even smell the Elite Guard they'll hightail it out of there and we can not let them do that."

"Understood," Optimus nodded.

He was about to terminate the connection when Sentinel said, "Oh and Optimus? Do not, I repeat do not, watch what's on those video chips."

"Yes, sir," Optimus closed the communications device and let out a loud groan.

"Ya see?" Ratchet said. "This is why I don't talk to that glitch-head."

The corners of Prowl's mouth quirked slightly as if he were trying to suppress a smile while he crossed his arms.

* * *

><p>"You did what?" Sparkplug shrieked causing Red Alert to wince as his audio sensors tried to recover from nearly being blown out…again. Who knew Sparkplug's voice could reach that high?<p>

"I told them about the video chips," Sentinel said calmly.

"Why? Are you crazy?"

"No I am not crazy," Sentinel replied, looking unfazed by Sparkplug's shouting.

"But why?" the head of the Cybertron Research Facility wailed.

"All I told them was that the video chips had been stolen from the Elite Guard. That is all they know. And I mentioned that we thought the experiments were to blame."

"Oh," Sparkplug said, not looking the least bit relieved as something else occurred to him. "Well I suppose that's all right but just how are you going to explain why you're not going to arrest me?"

"Just leave that to me," Sentinel said mysteriously then severed the connection.

Sparkplug growled then stormed out of the room muttering under his breath about stuck-up Elite Guard commanders.

Red Alert remained in his seat, optics glued to the cameras until the door shut. He took a quick glance around the room to ensure that he was now alone then pressed a couple of buttons. The screen that showed what was going on in the younglings' quarters went staticy for a second then the picture came back up. He smiled and pressed another button. He waited a few more seconds then went back to checking the other cameras.

* * *

><p>"The red light be blinking," Jetfire announced.<p>

"Are you sure?" Bumblebee asked.

"We be sure," Jetstorm said a minute later.

Bumblebee rose and walked over to the corner where the camera was located. After waiting for the twins to stand on top of each other he climbed up their backs and peered at the camera. After confirming that the red light was indeed on he climbed back down. "Conference," he said, motioning for them to sit around the table.

"Again?" Bulkhead moaned. "We just had one yesterday…" his voice trailed off when he saw the look on Bumblebee's gray faceplate. "I'm gonna shut up now," he mumbled.

"That's probably a good idea," Bumblebee said icily. Once they were all seated Bumblebee began to speak. "We need to talk about our new teachers."

"But we already be talking about them!" the blue twin whined then tried to hide behind his twin when Bumblebee turned and scowled at them.

"But we no mind be talking again," Jetfire said in a hasty attempt to save his brother's life.

Bumblebee scowled at them but continued to speak. "What do we know so far?" he turned to Bulkhead.

Immediately the big green mech snapped to attention and said, "That they are Elite Guard officers, sir!"

Bumblebee sighed wearily and shook his head. "You don't have to salute me, Bulkhead. Twins?"

"There be three of them," Jetfire said proudly.

"Optimus be the leader. You be making him look like big idiot," Jetstorm finished.

Bumblebee groaned and banged his cranial unit against the table. "Thank you for the report, twins," his voice sounded slightly muffled. "We better get some recharge," he said as he sat back up.

"Why?" Bulkhead asked.

In response Bumblebee grinned. "Why so we can give the Elite Guard a little present."

"What that be?" the twins asked eagerly as they leaned forward.

"Losing their sanity," Bumblebee said.

A/N: 3 reviews.

A/N/N: Oh if anyone was wondering what Red Alert was doing then here's the answer; he was re-playing pre-recorded feedback on the camera that showed their room so they could have some privacy. The blinking red alert indicated the pre-recorded feedback was playing.


	7. Revelations

Unstable Experiments

Chapter 6: Revelations

Despite the events of the day before Prowl didn't think he would have any problems. Okay so Bumblebee was a genius at battle strategies but there was no way he knew ninjitsu. Right? Standing in the middle of the room with three faceplates looking at him eagerly while the fourth merely looked indifferent he could understand what Optimus had meant by 'I felt like they were just waiting for me to mess up'. It was just a little bit unnerving having four younglings watching your every move. However, being the stalwart ninja that he was, he ignored the fact that he was being watched and focused on the faceplates in front of him. Since they already knew each other's names Prowl saw no reason to be repetitive so all that he said was, "Do any of you know ninjitsu?" Not expecting an answer he was therefore shocked when the younglings nodded.

"We be knowing some moves," the twins said simultaneously.

"Just a few though," Bulkhead added. "We were just about to start some really fancy moves when…ow!" he frowned at Bumblebee who had just jabbed him in the side. "What was that for?"

"You talk too much," Bumblebee hissed.

"But I was just going to tell them about…" he protested.

"Exactly," Bumblebee interrupted.

"So do any of you know ninjitsu or not?" Prowl asked, having decided that he didn't really want to know what they were talking about.

Bumblebee and Bulkhead exchanged glances then Bulkhead said, "Yes," before falling silent.

"Would anyone care to demonstrate their skills?" Prowl was confident that there would be no volunteers.

To his surprise Bumblebee stood up and with a sly smile said, "Sure."

When the twins and Bulkhead started laughing and sniggering Prowl belatedly remembered the words that Master Yoketron had often said; 'You are a good ninja, Prowl, but I fear overconfidence will be your downfall.' He only prayed that it didn't come true.

Prowl moved into a classic fighting stance while Bumblebee simply stood there. Prowl made the first move; a punch that would have dented Bumblebee's faceplate had the minibot not grabbed Prowl's fist and forced it backwards, squeezing it as hard as he could. Prowl winced as the metal crunched and, thinking quickly, tried to kick the panel that covered Bumblebee's interfacing unit. However, the minibot blocked that as well, grabbing hold of Prowl's leg with his other servo, causing the gold-and-black ninja to fall on his back.

As Prowl lay there, groaning, Bumblebee leaned over him and said in a low voice, "Never underestimate your opponent." Prowl groaned in response and Bumblebee flounced away, smiling.

"He be no good," Jetfire said sadly.

"Even Jazz be better than that," Jetstorm agreed.

"Jazz?" Optimus said sharply as he turned. Jazz was one of Sentinel's top lieutenants or at least he had been until he had disappeared three months earlier with no trace of him left behind.

"But Master Yoketron be even better," Jetfire insisted.

"Yoketron?" Prowl's voice sounded harsh as he rose and faced the twins. "Master Yoketron never worked here; never."

"Yes he did," Bulkhead said. "He taught us for a while and after he left Jazz took over. Ironhide didn't know any ninjitsu but he did show us how to punch someone out."

Ratchet's optics went wide as he gasped, "Ironhide?" Ironhide had been an orphan that Ratchet had found at the tail end of the war. After a long, futile search for any relations the medic had reluctantly taken the orange youngling in and raised him. Despite Ratchet's claims to the contrary he cared deeply for Ironhide and had been grief-stricken when his offlined frame had shown up in Ratchet's quarters.

"Oops," the twins and Bulkhead said simultaneously as they tried to blend in with the floor.

"This," Bumblebee hissed, "is why I told you glitch heads not to talk about them."

"You said it was because you didn't know whether or not we could trust them," Bulkhead pointed out.

Taking a look around at the upset Prowl and furious Ratchet Optimus decided to take matters into his own servos. "Why don't the two of you go downstairs and get some air?" he suggested. "I'll take over the teaching for today."

"Are you sure you don't mind?" Prowl asked hesitantly.

Optimus shook his head. "No," he said, "I don't mind."

Prowl and Ratchet looked at him gratefully then slipped out of the room. Optimus sighed and shuttered his optics. He un-shuttered them a few minutes later to see three very worried faceplates in front of him. Even Bumblebee looked a little…concerned.

"We really didn't mean to upset them," Bulkhead apologized. The twins nodded; also looking very guilty.

"It's okay," Optimus told them. "I know you didn't mean too and they know it as well."

* * *

><p>Several hours later, towards the end of the day, found Optimus once again entering the quarters that he shared with Prowl and Ratchet to find the aforementioned bots sitting on their berths and staring into space. Coming to a quick decision he sat down next to Prowl, knowing that Ratchet would still be far too angry to talk to anyone. Not saying a word he simply sat there, content to let Prowl start the conversation.<p>

After a while the ninja said rather abruptly, "I want them dead, Optimus. I want whoever killed Master Yoketron and Jazz to pay for what they did."

Not the least bit surprised Optimus nodded and said, "It certainly is suspicious that the last three bots who supposedly worked here have either turned up offline or went missing."

"How are we gonna find out who murdered them?" Ratchet grunted.

"I have an idea…"

A/N: 3 reviews.

A/N/N: Sorry this is a little shorter than you're used to but I figured that you would be fine.


	8. Talking To Wheeljack

Unstable Experiments

Chapter 7: Talking To Wheeljack

It hadn't been very difficult to convince Mirage, who was in charge of the Cybertonian Prison systems to let them in. It had been even easier to get him to tell them where the scientist was that had been captured by the Elite Guard. Which was why Optimus found himself sitting in a prison, looking through a glass window at a white-and-green bot with fins on either side of his helm that signified what his emotions were by flashing.

"I'm Optimus Prime, second-in-command to Sentinel Magnus," he said, introducing himself.

"I know," Wheeljack said dully. "Every bot knows who you are."

"Then you probably know why I'm here. I came to discuss the experiments that they are working on at the Cybertron Research Facility."

Wheeljack's fins flashed red and he said, "I'm not telling you anything. If you want to know something ask Sparkplug."

"I can't," Optimus said. "We're working there undercover."

Wheeljack snorted. "He knows who you really are. Sentinel Magnus probably told him days before he told you."

Optimus frowned and argued, "But we're supposed to be finding some video chips that Sparkplug stole from the Elite Guard!"

Wheeljack began to laugh. His shoulder struts shook from the force of his laughter and continued to do so for the next several minutes. When he finally managed to stop he said, "There were never any video chips that the Elite Guard had. The ones that I had, however, had some very incriminating evidence on them; which is why Sentinel wants them so badly. If they were ever leaked to the public then Sentinel would be ruined; not only would he lose his position in the Elite Guard but the research facility would be forced to close its doors for good.

"What's on them?" Optimus asked as he leaned forward eagerly. Wheeljack hesitated so Optimus tried again. "Please," he pleaded. "I need to know."

Wheeljack sighed. "Okay I'll tell you. I'm sure that you are aware there were three other Elite Guard officers there before you?"

"Yes we are," Optimus nodded.

"Then you also know that two of them are dead and the third one is missing. Well actually he's dead too but that's a story for another time. Anyway, the three of them were murdered and the murders were recorded."

"So that's what's on the video chips," Optimus gasped. "Did Sparkplug kill them?"

"Sparkplug and Sentinel Magnus both did," Wheeljack said.

"Why?" Optimus wanted to know.

"Because they found out what the experiments were really created for," Wheeljack explained.

"And what was that for?"

Wheeljack said nothing but looked down at his servos. "Sparkplug told me that they were going to be the future of Cybertron; a way to continue our species without bots having to bond. I was foolish enough to believe him," he said sadly.

"Why were they really created?" Optimus pressed.

Wheeljack glanced around nervously then leaned forward and said in a low voice, "Sentinel wants power; lots of it. He'll do anything to get it; anything, even kill for it. He's not content just to be in charge of the Elite Guard. He wants to take over all of Cybertron but in order to do that…"

"He's creating an army," Optimus realized. "That's why they know ninjitsu and Bumblebee can come up with the best battle strategies ever."

Wheeljack's fins flashed a subdued blue as he said, "And, uh, just how are the younglings doing?" he tried to sound interested but Optimus could hear the eagerness underlying his tone.

"They're doing just fine," Optimus told him. "Although I will say that Bumblebee is a very annoying know-it-all."

Wheeljack's optics lit up. "I'm afraid that's my fault," he confessed. "Bumblebee was a very quick learner so Perceptor and I encouraged him. Since the others weren't interested in learning anything we taught him everything that we possibly could."

"Perceptor?" Optimus asked, picking up on the unfamiliar name.

Wheeljack's fins, which had been flashing a soft blue, now turned red. "He was the scientist that worked with me on the projects and a very dear friend. You see, the four that you met were not the only successful ones. There were three others created as well; Grimlock, Sludge, and Snarl. They were the first ones and we called them the Dinobots. They're not very intelligent but they have great strength and will do whatever they are ordered to do. So Sentinel took them and I don't know what happened to them after that," he said sadly, bowing his head.

"What happened to Perceptor?"

Wheeljack raised his head and said angrily, "He tried to stop Sentinel from taking the Dinobots. He said they weren't ready; that they weren't prepared for war. Sentinel said in that case they wouldn't be online much longer. That was when Perceptor lost it; he attacked Sentinel but that glitch head was too strong. He killed Perceptor right in front of the Dinobots. He made them watch as he off lined one of their Creators. I can never forgive him for that."

Optimus nodded in understanding. "I'm terribly sorry about your friend and the Dinobots," he said sincerely. "I promise you that I'll do everything in my power to avenge them.""

"That's what the others said and look what happened to them."

Optimus smiled. "Yes but I have two advantages that they didn't."

"What is that?" Wheeljack asked curiously.

"Friends," Optimus replied. "Two of them to be exact; both of whom have lost loved ones to Sentinel. Once I explain the situation to them I'm sure they'll be more than happy to destroy him."

"But what about the younglings?" Wheeljack asked worriedly. "I know they've been raised as killers but deep down they're decent bots. All they need is a chance to prove it."

"I'll do what I can," Optimus promised.

"Just do whatever you can," Wheeljack pleaded as Optimus rose and walked out of the room. "Please just take care of them," he whispered. "Just take care of them."


	9. Transforming & Alt Modes

Unstable Experiments

Chapter 8: Transforming & Alt. Modes

To say that Ratchet was furious would have been a severe understatement. It also would've been a lie to say the same thing about Prowl.

"Sentinel Magnus did what?" Ratchet growled; flecks of red appearing in his normally blue optics.

"He ordered Yoketron, Jazz, and Ironhide killed," Optimus said, eyeing the door longingly. He would have much rather preferred to be teaching battle strategies to Bumblebee than to be telling his friends what he had found out.

"I don't care if he is in charge of the Elite Guard," Prowl declared. "I'm going to offline him very slowly and very painfully."

"Why not dismantle him?" Ratchet suggested with a malicious look in his optics. "Then we can melt him down for spare parts or we can each take a piece of him for a trophy."

"That sounds like a good idea," Prowl smiled.

"Remind me to never tick the two of you bots off at the same time," Optimus said.

* * *

><p>Class went the same the next day; Bumblebee knowing all of the answers until Ratchet finally got fed up and said, "What do you do if you get stuck in your alt mode?"<p>

Bumblebee, who had opened his mouth to answer, closed it again. Bulkhead was scratching his head while the twins looked at each other in confusion. Timidly, Jetfire raised his servo and asked, "We be wondering what an alt mode be?"

Ratchet stared at them; his mouth hanging open. When he finally regained control of his voice he said, "You don't know what an alt mode is?"

"No we be not knowing," Jetstorm answered. Bumblebee and Bulkhead shook their heads in agreement.

"But every bot knows what an alt mode is!" a flabbergasted Ratchet protested.

"Every bot except for us," Bulkhead said.

"Well you're gonna find out," Ratchet told him. "Now I want all of you to watch me." He waited until all six pairs of optics in the room were trained on him then he transformed.

The four younglings all gasped in shock. Bumblebee and Bulkhead sprang to their pedes in alarm while the twins hugged each other wailing, "He's gone! He disappeared! We don't want to be gone! We be wanting to stay here! We don't be wanting to be turned into vehicles! We be liking to stay robots!"

"Where'd he go?" Bulkhead sounded terrified.

Bumblebee's optics narrowed and he said, "I think I know." A look of fierce determination appeared on his faceplate and he concentrated hard. Seconds later he too transformed.

The twins started crying even harder and clung so tightly to Bulkhead that they appeared to be fused to him.

Ratchet transformed back to robot mode much to the shock of the twins who were now whimpering that they would be good if Primus didn't steal their sparks.

"Shut up," Bumblebee ordered as he too transformed. "Primus did not steal our sparks nor will he still yours."

"But where did you bots be going?" Jetstorm wailed.

"I'm not entirely sure," Bumblebee confessed. 'But I think we transformed into vehicles."

"Primus, they really didn't teach you how to transform," Ratchet shook his head. "Unbelievable."

"Why would they teach us?" Bulkhead asked.

"You use your alternate mode when you go outside," Prowl explained. When he saw the four blanks looks he sighed and said, "You bots have been outside before, haven't you?"

Bumblebee shook his head. "They said we are not allowed to go outside until our training has been completed and only then with supervision."

Standing there, looking at the four younglings in disbelief, Optimus suddenly remembered what Wheeljack had said the day before. _'I know they've been raised as killers but deep down they're decent bots. All they need is a chance to prove it.'_ Suddenly he realized that he had to figure out just what exactly he was going to do about the younglings.

* * *

><p>"I don't trust them," Bumblebee announced.<p>

"We be knowing that you be not trusting them," Jetfire sighed. "You be saying that ever since they be arriving here."

"We be very tired of hearing it," Jetstorm added.

"Yeah," Bulkhead nodded.

"Well excuse me for exercising a little caution," the yellow-and-black minibot hissed, jumping off of his berth and stalking around the room. "For all we know they could just be here for the video chips."

"Why don't we just let them have the chips?" Bulkhead asked.

Bumblebee whirled around and glared at Bulkhead. "Because then we will no longer have a bargaining chip. If we ever want to leave this place then we need to have something that will ensure our release. But if Sparkplug gets his servos on the video chips then we will remain here forever. I trust that none of you want that."

"We not be wanting that," the twins said.

Bulkhead was frowning, however, and eventually asked, "But wouldn't turning in the video chips be the right thing to do?"

Bumblebee was silent for a minute then he said, "Before they took Wheeljack away he made me promise to look after you bots. That's all I'm doing right now; is looking after you. Even if it means the Elite Guard officers get off lined as well I will do whatever it takes to get us out of here. Is that understood?"

The twins and Bulkhead exchanged glances then nodded. "We understand," the big green mech said gloomily.

Bumblebee smiled. "Good."

* * *

><p>"We have a problem," Sentinel Magnus said bluntly.<p>

"I knew it," Sparkplug groaned. "I just knew something bad was going to happen! By the way, what did happen?"

"Optimus went to the prison and saw Wheeljack."

"Oh now that's just great. Not only did you send me the two Elite Guard officers who are connected to the ones that we killed but now they've talked to Wheeljack! What's worse is that they probably believed him!"

"Calm down," Sentinel ordered. "I have a plan."

"Oh I can't wait to hear it!" Sparkplug snapped. "Well spit it out already, I don't have all day."

A/N: 3 reviews please.

A/N/N: Also I would like to invite all of you to watch Transformers: Masterforce. It's the first Japanese anime show ever produced and the only one to not have any of the original Transformers in it. It is, however, very good. While it is in Japanese, it does have English subtitles. In my personal opinion it is WAY better than Transformers: Animated! And another reason to watch it is because I am fixing to start working on a crossover between Masterforce and Animated along with brave kid; a member of fan fiction who hasn't written any stories yet.


	10. Planning An Escape

Unstable Experiments

Chapter 9: Planning An Escape

"So what are we going to do?" Prowl asked.

"I don't know," Optimus sighed. "I can't justify killing them; they're just younglings after all. But neither will my conscience allow me to release them into the world. They have no idea how to act normal. All they know how to do is offline other bots. They wouldn't last for more than a few days on their own. And they certainly can't stay here; no one deserves to be locked away in this place for their entire lives."

"I agree with you," Ratchet said. "We can't just leave 'em here but we can't let 'em go either."

"What about Wheeljack?" Prowl said suddenly. Seeing his friends looking at him with raised optics ridges he began to explain. "Well he's one of their creators right?" At Optimus's confirming nod he continued. "Optimus, you said that he seemed pretty worried about them. So why don't we break Wheeljack out of prison and let him decide what to do with them? Or maybe we can just give them a ship and let them go wherever to want to," he suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea," Ratchet grunted.

"It does," Optimus admitted. "But now that brings us to another dilemma; what are we going to do about Sentinel Magnus and Sparkplug?"

"Offline them," Prowl answered immediately.

Optimus gave Prowl a stern look. "We can't just offline the head of the Elite Guard. We have to plan it out carefully or else we can try to get our servos on those video chips. Then we could just hand those over to the Council."

"And if the Council's in on it too?" Ratchet raised an optic ridge.

Optimus frowned then said slowly, "Well we could always broadcast the chips over a public station or something."

"We have to find them first," Prowl reminded him.

"I think I might know where they are," Optimus said thoughtfully.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure about this?" Bulkhead asked worriedly as he looked up at the gaping hole in the ceiling where a panel had been recently. At least until Bumblebee had moved it that is.<p>

"Yes," Bumblebee's voice floated down to where Bulkhead was standing. The minibot having decided that tonight was going to be the night that they left the Cybertron Research Facility for good.

"But it doesn't seem like a good idea to me," Bulkhead insisted.

There was a scrabbling sound then Bumblebee's faceplate appeared. Looking down reproachfully at Bulkhead he said, "Nothing ever seems like a good idea to you, Bulky. And just who, I might ask you, is the best at battle strategies?"

"You," Bulkhead sighed.

"And who is the best at ninjitsu?"

"It be you," Jetfire said.

"And just who happens to know the most about first aid and performing surgeries?"

"That be you as well," Jetstorm added. "You be the best at everything."

"Well when you've got it; you've got it," Bumblebee smirked.

"Huh?" poor Bulkhead looked lost.

"Never mind," Bumblebee sighed as he disappeared once more. "Just wait there until some one comes to set you free," he called.

Less than a minute later they could hear the sound of the door being unlocked. "Well that was quick," Bulkhead sounded pleased but also a little bit afraid. All thoughts vanished, however, when he saw Optimus, Prowl, and Ratchet standing on the other side of the door. "Uh, hi," he said nervously as they entered the room and closed the door behind them. "So what are you bots doing here?"

Optimus didn't answer but instead asked, "Where is Bumblebee?"

"I, uh, I don't really know exactly," Bulkhead said somewhat untruthfully. After he had decided that mentioning the last time he had seen the minibot Bumblebee had been trying to sneak out of the building would not be a very good idea.

"Sure you don't," Prowl sounded slightly sarcastic. "I'm sure you can't also explain why there is a panel missing from you ceiling."

"Oh that? I never noticed that before." Looking at the dubious faceplates in front of him Bulkhead was forced to admit that only Bumblebee could really pull off the wide-eyed innocent look very well. Except for on Perceptor and Wheeljack of course; they had always seen through although, more often than not, Wheeljack had let him get away it. This almost always led to the two scientists having a friendly argument over what they considered 'good parenting'. With a start he realized that he missed them; missed the feeling of family that they had shared until Sentinel Magnus had taken it all away. That glitch head had stolen Bulkhead's family from him without so much as an apology or even an explanation as to why. Suddenly he understood perfectly how Bumblebee felt and why he had changed so drastically after they took Wheeljack away. Bumblebee was just trying to take care of them like he had promised.

"Where's Bumblebee?" Optimus asked, his oddly gentle voice breaking into Bulkhead's troubled thoughts.

After deliberating over the question for a few minutes Bulkhead said, "He went to make a deal with Sparkplug."

Optimus nodded. "He's going to give Sparkplug the video chips in exchange for you bots freedom, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Bulkhead said. "What're you gonna do?" he asked fearfully.

"Give him some back-up," Optimus replied after a slight hesitation. Then they left without giving Bulkhead a chance to ask which 'him' they had meant.

"You be in big trouble," Jetfire said.

"When Bumblebee be finding out what you be telling them he be offlining you," Jetstorm warned.

"I know," Bulkhead groaned. "I know."

"He not be happy," Jetfire giggled.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in the monitor room, poor Red Alert was convince that he was going to have a spark attack. Just what were those younglings thinking? It was one thing for him to turn off the cameras for an hour so they could have some time to themselves but to try and escape? He could lose his job if Sparkplug found out about this. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't noticed the figure coming up behind him until a voice said, "Well, well what do we have here?"<p>

A/N: 3 reviews please.

A/N/N: Also if any of you want to know more about Masterforce or are confused by the episodes feel free to message me and ask. I don't mind answering questions.


	11. Escape!

Unstable Experiments

Chapter 10: Escape?

It was dark when Sentinel Magnus left the safety of the Elite Guard Headquarters. He didn't mind, however, preferring the darkness as it kept him hidden; protected his identity from all of the common bots that wandered the street. Seeing a femmebot walking down the street with her sparkling he sneered. They were so pathetic! Living their everyday lives, doing the same things day after day…they deserved to be slaughtered, every one of them. With that thought in processor he continued walking towards the Cybertron Research Facility.

* * *

><p>Slowly Red Alert turned around to see Sparkplug standing behind him, arms crossed. "What are you doing here?"<p>

"I could ask you the same question." Sparkplug's smile was not a particularly pleasant one; in fact it sent chills up Red Alert's spinal strut.

"What…what do you mean?" he stammered. "I'm always here."

"You should," Sparkplug leaned close, "have already contacted me and told me that AB-2003 was escaping!" His voice, which had been no louder than a whisper, rose to a yell.

Red Alert cringed and said hurriedly, "I was on my way to tell you, Sir, I swear. You showed up before I had a chance to though."

The look on Sparkplug's faceplate suggested that he didn't quite believe Red Alert. He pointed to one of the monitors and said, "If AB-2003 really is trying to escape then why is this monitor showing that he's still in his quarters?"

Red Alert risked a glance at the monitor where a pre-recorded video was playing and lowered his gaze to the floor.

"I see," Sparkplug looked disappointed. "I had expected more from you, Red Alert," he sighed then commed security and told them to report to the control room.

Red Alert remained quiet as he waited for the security guards to come and take him away. Ever since the first time he had helped Wheeljack he had known that this day would come. Still, he was relieved to see that his friend Inferno would be the one escorting him to prison. While he looked surprised to find that he was going to be escorting Red Alert Inferno said nothing, choosing instead to place his friend in stasis cuffs and nod to Sparkplug. As they walked through the main lobby downstairs they passed an annoyed-looking Sentinel Magnus which was more than enough to make Red Alert happy that he was leaving. Although he did send Primus a quick prayer for the younglings, knowing that they would have a difficult time leaving tonight.

Once they were out of sight of the Cybertron Research Facility Inferno grabbed Red Alert by the shoulders and demanded, "What's going on, Red? I've been called to the control room before to escort bots to prison but usually because Brawn picked a fight with someone but never you. Now tell me exactly what happened."

Red Alert sighed and debated over what to do. He wanted to tell Inferno more than anything else in the world but on the other servo he didn't want his friend to get killed.

Picking up on Red Alert's reluctance Inferno said softly, "Tell me, Red. Please tell me."

Red Alert caved and said, "You know the experiments that the scientists are working on?"

"The top secret ones? Yeah what about them?"

Looking to make sure that no one was listening Red Alert leaned forward and whispered something in Inferno's audio sensors. Inferno's blue optics widened and he gaped at Red Alert. "Sentinel's building himself an army so he can take over the world?" he shrieked.

"Shh!" Red Alert hissed. "Not so loud!"

"Well what are we going to do?" Inferno asked as he released Red Alert from the stasis cuffs.

"There isn't much we can do," he said. "But there are a few things we can take care of." He took off running down the street, Inferno not far behind.

* * *

><p>Bumblebee crawled through the ventilation shafts; excitement and adrenaline coursing through his energon lines. So what if not only his future but the others' futures as well depend upon him completing his task? This was his first mission ever; he was allowed to feel some sort of emotion. At least that's what Wheeljack had always told him. After this mission, when he was on the next one, then he would not allow himself to feel anything at all…<p>

* * *

><p>Sentinel Magnus and Sparkplug were in the latter's office doing what they did best; arguing. "It's too dangerous," Sparkplug argued. "They should be destroyed along with all of the research."<p>

"No!" Sentinel slammed his fist down hard on the desk, making the datapads jump. "I want my army! You promised me an army! And what do I get? A bunch of stupid bots that don't even have a processor!" he roared.

It was about then that they heard a sound coming from the ventilation shaft. Startled, they turned to look and their optics widened they saw Bumblebee standing there.

"What are you doing here?" Sparkplug demanded. "I thought for sure you would've already left here; not come to my office."

"I want to make a deal with the two of you," Bumblebee announced.

"We don't make deals with killers," Sentinel sneered.

"That's too bad," Bumblebee shook his head regretfully. "I guess that means you won't be wanting these then." He reached into one of his subspace compartments and pulled out six video chips, waving them tantalizingly in front of the two bigger mechs.

"What sort of deal did you have in mind?" Sparkplug asked weakly.

"Well," Bumblebee said lazily as he plopped down in Sparkplug's chair. "I was thinking along the lines of letting me and others go free. Oh and Wheeljack and the Dinobots get to go free as well."

"Absolutely not," Sentinel declared. "You're asking for too much!"

Bumblebee raised an optic ridge and said, "Considering there's a very nice video on here of you murdering Ultra Magnus I think not."

Sentinel growled and grumbled but finally conceded. "All right, all right. Sparkplug?"

Sparkplug nodded then commed Cliffjumper, ordering him to bring the experiments to his [Sparkplug's] office. "So what now?" Sparkplug asked.

"Now?" Bumblebee shrugged. "Now we wait."

* * *

><p>What none of them knew was that there were three Elite Guard officers outside of the door, listening intently.<p>

"Ya know," Ratchet grunted. "I'm not the least bit surprised that he killed Ultra Magnus."

"Can we kill him now?" Prowl asked impatiently.

"Not yet," Optimus said. "Let's wait until the others are brought here as well. Then we'll decided what to do, okay?"

Prowl didn't say anything but a low growl was heard emanating from him. The ninja stiffened suddenly and hissed, "Somebody's coming."

Now that Prowl mentioned it Optimus could heard the sound of footsteps approaching. He motioned for them to hide and they stepped back into the shadows just before Cliffjumper rounded the corner with Bulkhead and the twins. Once they had entered Sparkplug's office and closed the door behind them Optimus, Prowl, and Ratchet looked at each other and nodded.

* * *

><p>"There they are. Thank you, Cliffjumper, you may go now," Sparkplug said. Cliffjumper nodded then left.<p>

"The video chips," Sentinel extended his servo to Bumblebee who shook his head and moved the chips out of reach.

"Not until they're out of the building and I have confirmation that Wheeljack and the Dinobots have been released."

Sentinel snarled and suddenly grabbed a surprised Jetfire who emitted a squeal of fear when he realized that there was now a sword pressed to his neck joint. "If you want him to stay in one piece I suggest you hand over those video chips now."

Bumblebee sighed, got up from the chair and walked around the desk. 'Here," he dropped the video chips into Sentinel's servo.

"See that wasn't so bad was it?" Sentinel smiled. "Now I think you should go back to your quarters don't you?" Before Bumblebee had a chance to say anything the door opened and Optimus, Prowl, and Ratchet entered. "Optimus," Sentinel said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"  
>"Well, sir, they weren't in their quarters so we came to inform you," Optimus answered.<p>

"Really," Sentinel sounded suspicious. "Even after that little talk you had with Wheeljack the other day?"

If he was surprised that Sentinel had found out about him seeing Wheeljack he didn't show it. Instead he said, "Yeah we talked. We," indicating himself and his two friends, "decided that if you were gonna take over Cybertron than we wanted to be sure that we would still have a job."

"Well that's good to know," Sentinel said, sounding pleased. "In that case would you mind escorting them back to their quarters?" he asked.

"Not at all," Optimus grabbed Bumblebee by the arm. 'We would be more than happy to take them back to their quarters, wouldn't we?"

"Sure," Ratchet grunted as he and Prowl looked at Optimus strangely. They grabbed hold of the twins and Ratchet pulled Bulkhead behind him. "What are you up to, Prime?" the medic wanted to know the second the door was firmly shut behind them.

"I'll explain everything in the elevator," Optimus whispered.

Once in the elevator Prowl turned to Optimus and demanded, "What was all that about? I thought we were supposed to be taking Sentinel down; not helping them."

"Just what did you expect me to do, Prowl? This place has tons of security guards; there was no way we could have taken all of them on and won. It was much easier just to play along with him. Besides," he turned to Bumblebee. "Something tells me that you're not stupid enough to have given him the real video chips."

"No I'm not," Bumblebee smirked. "But I would suggest that if you really want to help us we should probably leave right now."

"Why?" Optimus asked warily.

"Well those video chips I gave Sentinel might have rigged to self-destruct the second anyone played them," the yellow-and-black minibot admitted.

"What?" the others cried in alarm.

* * *

><p>"We might as well make sure he gave us the correct video chips," Sparkplug said as he walked across the room and stuck the video chips into one of the consoles.<p>

"Good idea," Sentinel sounded bored; he had no way of knowing that at that very moment the bots responsible for all of the trouble were running through the main lobby as fast as they could. Mere seconds later the Cybertron Research Facility blew up.

A/N: 3 reviews and one more chapter left.

Please check out my 'Masterforce: Animated' story and Masterforce on YouTube.


	12. Aftermath

Unstable Experiments

Chapter 11: Aftermath

Despite the fact that the sun was just now coming up the Cybertron Research Facility, or rather where it had been, was crawling with bots. Most of whom were looking for survivors although had any of them bothered to ask him, Optimus could have told them not to waste their time. He sat on the curb, a thermal blanket wrapped around his shoulder struts while Prowl and Ratchet sat on either side of him also wearing thermal blankets.

"Do you think anyone survived?" Prowl asked abruptly.

"Nope," Ratchet said. "No way any bot could have survived that explosion."

"We did," Optimus reminded hi.

"Yeah but we were outside," Ratchet argued.

Optimus opened his mouth to retort but wound up closing it again.

"What's wrong?" Prowl asked.

"Just thinking," Optimus sighed. "Did we do the right thing?" he asked, his voice heavy laden with doubt.

"I don't know," Ratchet muttered. "I just don't know."

* * *

><p><em>For several minutes Optimus lay in the street, dazed. After determining that he was still in one piece and functioning he slowly sat up and looked around. Relief swept over him when he saw and heard his companions moving. Standing, as he discovered, proved to be a real challenge so he wisely decided to remain sitting.<em>

"_That be loud," Jetfire exclaimed._

"_And it be noisy," Jetstorm added._

"_Will someone please turn that alarm off?" Bulkhead begged._

"_What alarm?" Prowl asked as he rose to his pedes and went to help the twins up._

"_The one inside my head," Bulkhead answered._

"_Sorry," Ratchet informed him, "but that's gonna have to go away on its own."_

"_Aw," Bulkhead groaned._

"_Don't worry, Bulkhead," Bumblebee said. "If you don't drive me nuts then later we can go get an energon goodie. How does that sound?"_

"_Yippee!" Bulkhead cheered._

_Optimus waited until he was once again able to stand and facing Bumblebee before yelling, "What the slag were you thinking?"_

"_Excuse me?" Bumblebee seemed genuinely confused. "What are you talkin about?"_

"_You know exactly what I'm talking about; don't play innocent with me! Why did you blow that place up? There were innocent bots in there!"_

_Bumblebee stopped brushing ash off his arm and looked straight at Optimus. "They would've done it again," he said. "They would've started working on more of us and perfected us. This entire mess would've started all over again and I couldn't allow that to happen."_

_Optimus locked optics with Bumblebee and, for the first time, did not see a killer or even a know-it-all but instead a youngling who had been forced to grow up too fast. "Go to the prison," he said at last. "Tell Mirage that Optimus sent you and that I'll owe him a favor if he lets Wheeljack go. I trust we won't run into you again?" although it was phrased as a question it was really a statement._

"_No," Bumblebee shook his head. "You'll never see us again." He pressed something into Optimus's servo then signaled to his friends and they disappeared into the night._

_Optimus looked down and smiled when he saw the six video chips resting in the palm of his servo. "Good luck," he whispered silently._

* * *

><p>Six Months Later<p>

It took a while for things to go back to normal after the video chips had been released to the public. The news of what Sentinel Magnus and the Cybertron Research Facility had done traveled far and wide. Cybertron had been stunned to learn that not only had Sentinel killed Ultra Magnus but he was planning to take over the world as well. The Council had wasted no time in appointing Optimus as head of the Elite Guard. While looking through Sentinel's files one day he had discovered the location of the Dinobots. He, Prowl, and Ratchet had gone to release them only to discover that someone had already beaten them to it. His first thought had been that Bumblebee was responsible until he saw the video footage. The two bots on there looked suspiciously like Red Alert and Inferno, two bots that had worked for the Cybertron Research Facility and hadn't been seen since. After some internal debate Optimus put them down as dead and filled out a report on two ships that had gone missing. Wheeljack's jail break had also been downplayed and video footage of it had been erased, courtesy of Mirage.

As for Prowl and Ratchet? Well Prowl was now in charge of teaching new recruits some basic self-defense techniques. Ratchet was now the "official" medic; he even had his own personal med-bay which was kept to his specifications. No one knew what happened to Bumblebee and the others but Optimus suspected, or rather he hoped, that they were somewhere out there just enjoying life.

* * *

><p>"Me Grimlock better than you," Grimlock said, stomping one of his pedes.<p>

"No me Sludge better!"

"Me Snarl better than both of you!"

"None of you are better than the others," Wheeljack said calmly. "Now behave yourselves and sit down. We're passing through an asteroid field right now and you're distracting Bumblebee so be quiet."

"Yes, Wheeljack," the three Dinobots chorused.

"We be being quiet," Jetfire said proudly.

"We be very quiet," Jetstorm added.

"Yes I'm sure you are," Wheeljack said, smiling indulgently at them.

"I'm being quiet," Bulkhead announced then groaned. "I don't like this ship, it makes me sick."

"At the next planet we'll get a different one," Wheeljack promised then made his way to the deck of the ship where he saw Bumblebee sitting at one of the consoles. "How's it going?" Wheeljack asked as he sat down next to the minibot.

"Fine," Bumblebee answered. "We're approaching a system of nine planets, one of which has organic life forms."

"Sounds like a fun place to visit," Wheeljack said. "I'll take over. Why don't you go back with the others?" he suggested. Surprisingly enough Bumblebee didn't argue but got up and left. "I'm making progress," he whispered gleefully then turned his attention back to the organic planet. "You should be a fun place to explore," he muttered to himself. "Something tells me that we'll have lots of adventures there." At the sound of boisterous laughter behind him Wheeljack smiled as they neared the planet Earth and lots of adventures…

A/N: 5 reviews.

A/N/N: To anyone who was wanting to know; yes, more than likely there will be a sequel but I can't promise that.

The first chapter of 'Prisoners of the Mind' will be posted on Monday.

I hope you liked this story. Thanks for reading and please check out my Masterforce story and Masterforce on YouTube.

Thanks again!


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